English 10: Preparing to Write Your Own Story . . . .

 We will get to the topics below on Friday. Due to our Terry Fox run, class was short today.

Today we read the story, "Haunted House" written by student, Jennifer Whiteford, when she was in high school. This story was published in the magazine, The Claremont Review, an international literary magazine that publishes fiction and poetry written by high school students aged 13 to 19.

We looked for the following details:

What effect does the father's disappearance have on the mother and on the daughter?

How does the author demonstrate these effects?

Through

• action
• dialogue
• descriptive detail
• symbols (eg the haunted house at the fair and now their house feels haunted by the memories of the father)
• character relationships (foils) 
• decisions the character makes 

What kind of grad stays home to blow bubbles with her mom? Why does she choose to stay home? What does this action reveal about the effect of her parents' break up on her life and on her future?

Reading between and beyond the lines makes the story more interesting because you are involved in making meaning as you read.

There is never ONE meaning to a story. Each reader brings his / her experiences to their interpretation.

HOMEWORK: THINK OF SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT TO EXPLORE

The themes in the stories we have read this year all reflect an author's concern for some aspect of their lives:

• loneliness and misunderstanding in "The Lamp At Noon"
• poor farming techniques and effects of poverty in "The Lamp at Noon"
• impact of ignorance and prejudice in "The Doll's House"
• how people are treated based on social status / wealth in "The Doll's House"
• impact of social services on young mothers in "Sick Pigeon"
• impact of wanting to help others and not knowing how in "Sick Pigeon"
• impact of divorce on families in "Haunted House"
• impact of accepting violence as normal in "Want To Play House"
• how parental actions impact children in all of the stories we read 

Think about a time something happened to you and you were forced to view the world in a new way:

• losing a friend or loved one
• being bullied or witnessing a bully
• feeling afraid
• trying to make the team and not making it or beating out your best friend
• divorce
• not understanding things in school as quickly as others do
• feeling like you don't belong
• moving to a new country or visiting a new country
• an encounter with someone who is not like you at all--someone living on the streets or in a nursing home or in prison